Safe to drink the tap water?

[AWalkabout]

Hi,
Will it be safe to drink the tap water or do we have to buy water?

 

[Tincatinker]

Yes. No.

 

[Introibo]

Yes it's safe to drink the tap water..... but it's nicer to drink the water from the village fountain.
Especially if it says it's untreated. Not a wiff of chlorine

All across the Camino Frances I filled my bottle as I went along and loved every mouthful I drank.
Somewhere I read that Northern Spain prides itself on the quality of it's water. I'm happy to endorse
that statement

 

[KinkyOne]

Hi,
Will it be safe to drink the tap water or do we have to buy water?

Hola!

I would second @Introibo by all means. The other thing is that 1l of bottled water cost us 800 (!!!) times the amount of the 1l water from the tap! Who's taking the difference in their pockets???

Buying bottled water in a country like Spain (except in bigger cities where the tap water is just as good as the water from the fountain, but they add chlorine to disinfect it !) is simply stupid thing to do in my eyes. At least. A friend of mine would even say that's a "crime"!

I'm a freelance film director and I remember an experiment we were doing years ago for a documentary. We took 5 samples of bottled water in shops and 5 samples of tap water in apartments throughout the country. Guess what? National laboratory (which is otherwise "directed" by government) for chemical analysis found out that THE BEST bottled water wasn't even close to THE WORSE tap water sample. And the later were taken in cities, with chloride added!!!

Think! Decide! Act!

 

[Rajy62]

I only drank tap water.

 

[sempervivum]

You can drink it without any problem. If there is no public fountain (there are all well marked), you can ask for a refill at any bar.

 

[grayland]

KO...if tap water is free...how is it that bottled water is 800 times that...confused

We shall soon be hearing from those who are certain that they got sick from fountains in the villages.

I drank from them all and filled my bottles. Never a problem and I am prone to that type of problem.

As you can see...I am very confused tonight

 

[bismith]

Hi,
Will it be safe to drink the tap water or do we have to buy water?

I found the water either via the tap or Fuentes on Camino Frances to be amazing. You'll have no problem with water in Spain.

 

[mspath]

I found the water either via the tap or Fuentes on Camino Frances to be amazing. You'll have no problem with water in Spain.

However do NOT drink from a fountain marked with an X or with the words " agua no potable"!

 

[clearskiescamino]

Absolutely.

 

[JCLimoNow]

yes, it's safe to drink tap water...

 

[george.g]

I've drank ltrs and ltrs of the stuff over the last few week's with no problems whatsoever, a tip you may want to try.
I bought some hydration tablets from a cycle shop and used them at half strength just to add a bit of taste. You could also think of buying tetra packs of orange mixing 50% water and a SMALL pinch of salt.
Regards
George

 

[YMR20]

Yes It is safe!
I reload every time from Bars and very well signs drinking water fountain!
no problem for me!

 

[grayland]

The water infrastruture in Spain is the equal of the U.S. or Canada. It is the equal of the rest of Western Europe.
Spain is not a third world country in any aspect. Be very comfortable that you need only take the same precautions that you would in your own country.

 

[jsalt]

We shall soon be hearing from those who are certain that they got sick from fountains in the villages.

Ha, ha! There IS a stretch across the Meseta before you get to Leon, where the pilgrims around us were dropping like flies. My sister and I drank café con leche in the mornings, ice cold beer in the afternoons, and vino tinto in the evenings, and we were fine . OK, maybe it wasn’t the water and there was a bug going around at the time . . .

 

[grayland]

Ha, ha! There IS a stretch across the Meseta before you get to Leon, where the pilgrims around us were dropping like flies. My sister and I drank café con leche in the mornings, ice cold beer in the afternoons, and vino tinto in the evenings, and we were fine . OK, maybe it wasn’t the water and there was a bug going around at the time . . .

It seems that anytime someone (or more) get any type of stomach problems..they immediately are sure it is the water. Never mind that hundreds of people drank the same water..including the locals and the hospitaleros in the area and did not get sick.
It is simply easier to all decide that they know exactly what caused it. Sometimes they decide that it was a bar that they had food in.
The facts never seem to match the rumors.

 

[jsalt]

The facts never seem to match the rumors.

Whatever it was that was going on, a LOT of people were sick, and we were just so thankful that we stayed well.

 

[marianna niebauer]

I took a life straw bottle & refilled from the tap. I can’t drink water from tap in US & most of SA so I take precautions.

 

[KinkyOne]

KO...if tap water is free...how is it that bottled water is 800 times that...confused
...

At least over here we don't pay for the water itself but for the distribution of it and that certainly is a cost. Which is BTW, as mentioned, 800 times cheaper than bottled water if you take into account the cost of production of plastic flasks, the filling of those flasks, the transport, the cooling etc.

 

[Deleted member 43780]

years and years ago as a chid in Seville I drank out of the clay water jugs.
Every Spanish worker had one then. Open mouth and let it pour in. Never touching the jug with lips.

Even the donkey train man (donkeys hauling rubbish or dirt from construction sites) had a clay water jug. Was always cool water in the jugs then.

Back in the 50s tap water was not the best in Spain.

Now days water in Spain is the best!

 

[Deleted member 59555]

Hi,
Will it be safe to drink the tap water or do we have to buy water?

I started out putting tablets into my water and after a couple of day forgot about it. If your going to get something you'll get it if you dont you wont. But a family of five ate the uncooked chicken on the third day that got real interesting. For them.

 

[RJM]

This is a zombie thread about 3 years old.
I wonder if the original poster managed to survive the austere Camino Frances drinking the tap and fountain water? LOL.
To anyone wondering, the water from taps and fountains (marked potable) is perfectly safe to drink. No need for treating it yourself. It's Spain, which is not an undeveloped country.

 

[Anniesantiago]

It's Spain, not Mexico.
Their infrastructure makes ours in the USA look like a 3d World country, imo.